Teat cup for milking machines



my 19, 192s.

-Ha is. QDEN .Tan cur Fon 4annum nahrung Filed July 2.a, lala FigPatented May 19, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. y

HENRY CLYDE ODEN, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

FINE TREE MILKING MACHINE COMPANY.

TEAT CUI FOR- MILKING MACHINES.

Application filed July 28, 1813. Serial No. 313,835.

To all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HENRY CLYDE ODEN, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica', residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State ofOhio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Teat Cups forMilking Machines, of which lthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to a novel form of teat cup for milking machines.It aims to provide a practical and simple structure of teat cup whichwill permit the inspection Vof the milk coming from each teat before itmixes with the milk coming from the other teats.

Several attempts have been made to produce ateat cup that willcorrespond with these requirements but the structures have been suchthat the transparent element which is, almost of necessity fragile, hasbeen subject to constant breakage under the normal operations connectedwith milking or connected with the cleansing of the teat cups. Inaddition, in these other structures, the transparent element has beeninsecurely held with the resultant danger of deficient operation. A teatcup of the type in queslion, to be pract-ical, must be of relativelysimple construction and must be so constructed that its parts may bereadily assembled. These parts must be held in assembled relation insuch a way that the transparent element will be firmly held and yet willbe protected from undue strains.

I have provided a clamping device which is peculiarly suitable to thattype of teat cup having a flexible inner cylinder. This is because, inmy teat cup, the inner flexible cylinder is so related to thetransparent element that all of the parts may be clamped together withmultiple clamping action and that the flexible cylinder member serves tofully protect the transparent element from binding` contact with themetal of the teat cup, which binding contact inevitably increases thetendency to fracture of the transparent element whenever it is subjectedto the jarring action that frequently occurs in thehandling of devicesof this character.

Most specifically, I have provided a teat cup embodying an outer 'rigidcylinder, an inner flexible cylinder, and a transparent nipple at thelower end of these cylinders together with a means for connecting theseparts by a clamp that will exert pressure at several points rather thanat one point, upon the transparent element.

I have further provided such a structure of teat cup that the metalcylinder can be made of .minimum weight and yet there can be providedscrew threads upon the inner lower end of such cylinder to facilitateadjustment of one of the clamping parts. It will be further seen as thisdescription progresses thatthe parts of the teat cups are readilyseparable, may be easily adjusted to compensate for stretching of theinner flexible cylinder and are of such formation that they can bethoroughly cleansed without difficulty.

The preferred embodiment of my invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawings wherein similar characters of reference designate correspondingparts and wherein- Figure l is a side elevation of my teat cupassembled.

Figure 2. is a bottom plan view of the structure shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the inner flexible cylinder'removed fromthe outer rigid cylinder.

Figure lis a section of the inner flexible cylinder shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a vertical longitudinal section of the teat cup showing itsparts in assembled relation. t

In the drawings, the teat cup is shown as having an outer rigid cylinder1 which is preferably of light material and an inner cylinder 2 ofelastic material, preferably rubber. Extending into the side of thecylinder l at its base is a tube 3 designed to admit of the alternateintroduction and exhaust Vof atmospheric air to and from the spacebetween the rigid cylinder and the fiexible cylinder.

At its upper end, the flexible cylinder 2 is slightly distended toembrace and retain an annular member 4 which is fiared as at 5 and whichhas an annular depression 6 for the reception of the end `of thecylinder 2.

At the lower end of the cylinders l and 2 there is provided a clampingconnection between these cylinders l and 2 and the transparent nipple 7.This nipple 7 is designed for connection to the pipe which produces apartial vacuum and carries the milk to the desired point. The nipple 7is preferably or" clear glass so that the milk coming from each teat maybe inspected as it passes to the pipe and at its inner or upper end'thisnipple is provided with a shoulder 8 slightly larger than the normalinternal diameter' of the lower end of the cylinder 2. In operation, theylower end of this cylinder 2 is expanded to embrace and tightly gripthe shoulderj8.

Mounted within the rigid cylinder l at its lower end is a ring-likeelementf) which is internally threaded as at l but which is slightlyContracted above or within this threaded portion to produce an inclinedshoulder 1l preferably extending` entirely around the ring.` It will beobvious that this ring-like member 9 may be threaded into the rigidcylinder l or it may be connected thereto in any suitable manner. Forcooperation ,with this structure, I have provided an Vexternallythreaded ring member 1Q designed 'to' screw into the threads 10 of thering member 9' and `having a knurled shoulder 13 Vof substantially thesame diameter as the rigid cylinder l.

In assembling these parts, the elastic cylinder 2 is slightly distendedto embrace the top ring 5 and lit in the groove ,6 of such ring. Theelastic cylinder is then .placed within the rigidcylinder l andthe lowerend of this elastic cylinder is d-istended and placed over the shoulder8 of the nipple 7 in the manner indicated in Figure 5. The result oi'this is `to partially clamp the lower end of Vthe elastic cylinderbetweenv the shoulder 8 on the nipple and .the inclined shoulder 1l onthe ring-.like member 9 owing to the elastic nature ot' the cylinder.rllhen the ring-like member l2 is screwed into position.- rllhe resultvis that the venlarged portion of the elastic cylinder 2 which eX istsbecause it is embracing the shoulder S of the nipple 7 is `forced lirmlyinto contact with the inclined shoulder llby the ring-like member 13.dien this happens, the ring-like member 13 is exerting an upwardy andinclined force against the elastic member 2 and Vthrough itagainst theunder outer surface of the shoulder 8. At the same time, a reactiveforce is being exerted bythe incl-inedshoulder ll against the elasticmember 2 and through it to the upper outer surface of the shoulder 8.The result is that the shoulder 8 is `firmly gripped romtwo sides by aclamping element which utilizes the 'elastic cylinder 2 as al protectingmed-ium for th-e Atransparent and rela tively fragile member y7. Notonly this7 but the clamping connection is such that the elastic member 2vmay ybe cut oil' as it stretches and without difl'liculty replaced inits proper protective relation tothe transparent member. As -a matter offact, either end or" the elastic member may be cut oil' when desired,due to the fact that this member is oi'i'cyl'ndrical form throughout andis not otherwise specially molded to embrace any particular element.

Having thus described my invention,I what I claim is: n

A tea't cup comprisinga removable transparent nipple bottom, an externalshoulder on said bottom, an external rigid casing, an internal elasticcylinder yfitting over said shoulder on said nipple bottom, an internalshoulder member positioned adjacent the lower end of' said casing andadapted to engage said elastic cylinder, internal screw threads on thelower end of said member and an externally threaded plug adapted to be.screwed into said internal threads so as to clamp said externalshoulder and the elastic cylinder'titting thereover between said'plugonone side and said internal shoulder "on Y the other side.

In testimony whereof I hereby atlix my signature.

HENRY CLYDE OBEN.

